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Senior Thesis Exhibition part of An Evening With The Arts at St. Bonaventure University’s Quick Center

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Works by seven student artists at St. Bonaventure University will be featured in the 2012 Senior Thesis Exhibition opening Friday, March 23, at the University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

The exhibition opens with a welcoming reception from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Winifred Shortell Kenney Gallery. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., the artists will offer brief comments about their work.

The reception and exhibition opening are part of a broader celebration, An Evening With The Arts, sponsored by the Department of Visual and Performing Arts and The Quick Center. Here’s a complete schedule of the evening’s events, all taking place at The Quick Center:

4:30-5 p.m.: tour of the Asian art collection with Chisato Dubreuil, assistant professor of art history.

5-7 p.m.: Senior Thesis Exhibition opening and reception.

5:30-6:30 p.m.: gallery talks by exhibiting student artists.

5-7 p.m.: music to view art by, featuring music program students.

7:30-9:45 p.m.: SBU Theater presentation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in Rigas Family Theater, with an audience talk-back after the show.

Refreshments will be served on The Quick Center’s mezzanine. All events, other than the play, are open to the public at no charge. Tickets for the play may be purchased by calling The Quick Center Box Office at (716) 375-2494.

The evening’s showcase event, the exhibition by graduating visual arts majors, will be one of the largest in recent years, and the first exhibited at the university’s world-renowned arts center in some time, said Constance Pierce, associate professor of visual arts at St. Bonaventure.

“The exhibition features challenging and intriguing work by seven young artists,” said Pierce, who directed the exhibition project. “They offer a wide range of styles, concepts and mediums including work in drawing, painting, visual journals, watercolors, sculpture, and sketchbooks.”

Students participating in the exhibition include:

Emily Buccilla from Pickerington, Ohio, whose experience as a student-athlete inspired her series of works based on female athletes, particularly people she has looked up to.

Tess Hanna, from Rochester, N.Y., who uses colored pencils and watercolors to express her imagery in a poetic and evocative stream-of-consciousness manner.

Kellyn Kautz, from Williamsville, N.Y., who will exhibit a series of large-scale wash drawings inspired and informed by 18th century mystic artist William Blake, as well as a unique series of explorations expressing an array of zombie imagery.

Neil Durkin of Caldwell, N.J., who explores the existential loneness of post-modern man through a series of unusual works on paper and canvas that are rough, challenging, and contemporary with an urban flavor.

Sara Regal, of Beachwood, Ohio, who will exhibit a series of eclectic works inspired by dreams, yet unified through her affinity for rich deep color.

Matthew Ryan, of New York, N.Y., who grew up in the heart of Manhattan and whose work is inspired by contemporary street art and graffiti imagery. He offers a breadth of expressive approaches from detailed portraits of African-American artists and writers, to expressive drip-paintings that depict rappers and urban legends.

Alexandria Stephan, of Kenmore, N.Y., who says her experience as an award-winning skater and dancer give her a sense of lyrical flow and movement that she incorporates into her art. Her goal is to inspire others to appreciate the beauty and elegance of nature.

The 2012 Senior Thesis Exhibition also provides some special features, said Pierce. Artists Ryan and Durkin will collaborate on a large-scale graffiti wall that will be created outdoors and then wheeled into the gallery for the exhibition’s opening reception.

Also, several artists will share intimate views of their creative process by displaying mixed-media art journals and sketchbooks. These will be shown in glass cases within the gallery, so visitors are able to view the young artists’ preparatory studies and imaginative concepts along with their completed major series of works on the gallery walls.

The exhibition runs through April 14.

Galleries at The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts are open to the public at no charge year round. Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more information, go to www.sbu.edu/quickcenter.